Chennai: Within two weeks of the arrest of Bharathiar University vice-chancellor A.Ganapathy on corruption charges, higher education minister K.P.Anbalagan, who is also the pro-chancellor of universities, has convened the meeting of vice-chancellors to discuss various issues including corruption.
Exposing rampant corruption in universities, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) had arrested A. Ganapathy, vice-chancellor of Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, while accepting the bribe of Rs 30 lakh from an assistant professor for confirmation of his job on February 3. Subsequently, Governor Banwarilal Purohit suspended him citing that the charges against him were serious in nature.
The VCs meeting has over 20 issues on the agenda mainly concerning universities and higher education. The agenda list includes filling key posts with regular appointments instead of giving additional charges, the progress of various announcements and the delay in evaluating PhD theses.
“The meeting agenda has only routine items and it does not include corruption issue,” one of the vice-chancellors told this paper. Higher education secretary Sunil Paliwal said, “It is our regular meeting and we conduct it every two months for VCs and every month for registrars.
“We will be taking up the issue of corruption also. We hvae been taking
steps to end corrupt practices.” Sources indicated that the issue of Bharathiar University VC’s arrest will be discussed elaborately in the meeting.
“What happened in Coimbatore will definitely be discussed. We will also discuss what the VCs need to do to avoid such things,” sources said.The VCs are likely to be urged to work in a straightforward manner committed to the university and higher education.
Some professors said a total ban on recruitment in the universities will likely be enforced in the meeting. However, officials clarified that such ban was put in place from April 12, 2017, to facilitate the redeployment of Annamalai University’s excess staff members to other universities.
